We address universal features in the defect dynamics formed after sudden perturbations in ultra-cold gas superfluids which are confined in elongated traps. Our studies, based on simulations of the complex time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation focus on both phase imprinting (at angles away from π), and localized density depletion perturbations. The challenge we address has to do with the equilibration process: how a superfluid system eventually eliminates an extended planar defect which these experiments induce. In contrast to earlier work where soliton-vortex ring oscillations were reported, we observe planar phase gradients coexisting with one or more near-trap-edge vortex rings. The latter repeatedly enter and exit the trap as the phase gradient dissipates.